Royal Rumble (2017)
Royal Rumble (2017) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event produced by WWE for the Raw and SmackDown brands. It took place Sunday on January 29, 2017, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. This was the 30th event under the Royal Rumble chronology. The event was also the second Royal Rumble to be held in the Alamodome, after 1997, and the fourth to be held in the state of Texas (1989, 1997, and 2007). Eight matches were contested at the event, including three on the pre-show. In the main event, Randy Orton won the Royal Rumble match by last eliminating Roman Reigns, making him the seventh multiple Rumble winner. John Cena defeated AJ Styles, in another prominent match, to capture his record thirteenth WWE Championship and his sixteenth overall world championship, supposedly tying Ric Flair's record. Also on the card, Kevin Owens retained the WWE Universal Championship against Roman Reigns in a no disqualification match, Charlotte Flair retained the Raw Women's Championship against Bayley, and Neville defeated Rich Swann for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Storylines The card featured eight matches, including three on the pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands. Storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live, and 205 Live, the latter of which is cruiserweight exclusive. As is tradition, the card was highlighted by the 30-man Royal Rumble match, which earned the winner a world championship match at WrestleMania 33 for their brand's top championship: Raw's WWE Universal Championship or SmackDown's WWE Championship. If a free agent were to have won, they would have had a choice at which championship to challenge for. After defeating Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series in his first match in 12 years, Goldberg declared himself the first entrant in the Royal Rumble match on the November 21, 2016 episode of Raw. The next week, Paul Heyman stated that Brock Lesnar would also compete in the Royal Rumble as he "has something to prove", having been "humiliated" by Goldberg. Over the following weeks, The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods), Chris Jericho, Braun Strowman, Baron Corbin, The Undertaker, Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose, The Miz, and Dolph Ziggler announced their participation in the match. Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro and Sheamus confirmed their entries via Twitter on January 16. Later that night on Raw, Titus O'Neil challenged The New Day for one of their spots. Big E accepted the challenge and defeated O'Neil. On the January 17 episode of SmackDown, Bray Wyatt stated that he, Randy Orton, and Luke Harper would enter the match. On January 23, 2017, Big Show was confirmed for the match via Facebook. Seth Rollins had confirmed his entry via Twitter on January 9, but lost his spot to Sami Zayn on the January 23 episode of Raw, after a distraction by Triple H's music. Later in the night, Big Cass and Rusev announced their participation in the match. On the January 24 episode of SmackDown, Mojo Rawley won a 10-man battle royal to qualify for the match. The remaining eight spots were revealed at the event during the match. At Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, 2016, Kevin Owens retained the WWE Universal Championship against United States Champion Roman Reigns after Chris Jericho attacked Owens with a Codebreaker, giving Owens the win by disqualification. After the match, Jericho, who lost to Seth Rollins earlier that night, revealed it was his plan so that Owens would win and retain the title. Reigns and Rollins attacked both by performing Double Powerbombs on Jericho and Owens through broadcast tables. The next night on Raw, Owens and Jericho celebrated Owens' win, stating their friendship was even stronger now. Raw General Manager Mick Foley then came out, announcing that Reigns would get a rematch against Owens for the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble, and Jericho would be suspended above the ring inside of a shark cage, ensuring that Jericho would not interfere in the match. Foley threatened that if Jericho does not enter the cage, he will be fired. Both were then put into a tag team match against Reigns and Rollins. The latter two won by disqualification after Braun Strowman came out and attacked both. The following week, after Rollins confronted Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon about her husband Triple H, Stephanie scheduled Rollins to face Strowman, but was disqualified when Sami Zayn attacked Strowman. Reigns later retained the United States Championship against Owens after Rollins attacked an interfering Jericho. The following week, Reigns again retained the United States Championship, this time against Jericho. Owens was banned from ringside during the match due to losing to Rollins earlier that night. The following week, Rollins faced Strowman in a rematch, ending in a double countout. Reigns again defended the United States Title, this time in a handicap match against both Jericho and Owens. After Jericho and Owens double-teamed Reigns, Jericho scored the pinfall to become the United States Champion. The next week, after the opening segment involving Owens, Jericho, Reigns, Rollins, Strowman, Zayn, as well as Brock Lesnar, ended in a brawl, a six-man tag team match was scheduled for the main event, with Owens, Jericho, and Strowman winning against Reigns, Rollins, and Zayn. After the match, Owens powerbombed Reigns through a broadcast table. The final Raw before the Royal Rumble, Reigns faced Jericho in a rematch for the United States Championship, but Jericho was disqualified when Owens interfered, attacking Reigns. Owens and Jericho attempted to put Reigns in the shark cage, but Reigns retaliated and locked Owens in it, had it lifted above the ring, and then performed a Superman Punch and a spear on Jericho. Afterwards, it was announced that the match at Royal Rumble would be a no disqualification match. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 4, 2016, AJ Styles retained the then-WWE World Championship against Dean Ambrose in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. On the December 13 episode of SmackDown, Dolph Ziggler defeated Ambrose, The Miz, and Luke Harper in a four-way elimination match to earn a match for the renamed WWE Championship on the December 27 episode. On the December 20 episode, however, Baron Corbin confronted Ziggler, calling him undeserving of a title shot and stated that Ziggler only won because he was not there. The two then had a match with Ziggler's title shot on the line, but it ended in a double count-out. Styles then attacked both Ziggler and Corbin with a chair. SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan then scheduled a triple threat for the WWE Championship between the three for the December 27 episode. That episode, John Cena returned from a near three-month hiatus and challenged the winner for the title at the Royal Rumble. After Styles retained the WWE Championship, Cena came out, looking ready to fight, but instead congratulated him with a handshake. Cena and Styles had a contract signing on the January 3, 2017 episode. They were interrupted by Corbin, who claimed that he would win the Royal Rumble match and face the WWE Champion at WrestleMania. As Cena prepared to fight Corbin, Styles attacked Cena. Cena then defeated Corbin the following week. On the January 17 episode, Styles faced The Miz with Cena on commentary. The match ended in a no contest after Styles attacked Cena. A brawl ensued and Cena delivered an Attitude Adjustment to both The Miz and Styles. The following week, Cena and Styles had a face-to-face confrontation about their Royal Rumble match. At Roadblock, Charlotte Flair defeated Sasha Banks in overtime of a 30-minute Iron Man match to win her fourth Raw Women's Championship, as well as ending their long feud. The following Raw, Sasha came out in a knee brace and on a crutch to talk about their feud. She wanted to congratulate Charlotte but instead was belittled and attacked by Nia Jax. Later, Charlotte came out and declared herself to be the greatest female wrestler of all time, but Bayley interrupted Charlotte, reminding her that she was 2–0 against her. Bayley then pinned Charlotte in an impromptu non-title match. However, as replays showed that Charlotte had her shoulder up before the three count, Charlotte had Bayley's win struck from the record the following week; Charlotte faced Bayley in another non-title match, but this time with Dana Brooke as guest referee, who gave a fast three count to give Charlotte the victory. On the January 2, 2017 episode, Bayley defeated Nia Jax due to a distraction by Sasha Banks to become the number one contender for the Raw Women's Championship at the Royal Rumble. Backstage the following week, Charlotte and Nia attacked Bayley and Sasha and later defeated them in a tag team match. On the January 16 episode, Charlotte tried to embarrass Bayley by showing old pictures and poems of Bayley's dreams of becoming a WWE wrestler. The following week, after a confrontation between the two, Sasha was scheduled to face Nia on the Royal Rumble pre-show. At Roadblock, Rich Swann retained the WWE Cruiserweight Championship in a triple threat match against T.J. Perkins and The Brian Kendrick. After the match, Neville appeared and attacked both Swann and Perkins, turning heel. The following night on Raw, Neville stated his intention to take out the entire cruiserweight division, and proclaimed himself to be "King of the Cruiserweights". Swann questioned Neville's actions, but was then attacked by Neville and Kendrick, who sided with Neville. Perkins tried to help Swann, but was overpowered by Neville. The next night on 205 Live, Neville and Kendrick defeated Perkins and Swann in a tag team match. The following Raw, after Neville defeated Perkins, he challenged Swann to a match for the following 205 Live. Later, after Swann defeated Ariya Daivari, he accepted the challenge, but was immediately attacked by Neville. On 205 Live, Neville defeated Swann in a non-title match, and proceeded to attack Swann again. On the January 9, 2017 episode of Raw, after defeating Lince Dorado, Neville proceeded to attack Dorado more until Swann came to his aid and fended off Neville. On the following 205 Live, after Swann defeated Tony Nese, Swann called out Neville, but Neville refused to face Swann unless it was for the Cruiserweight Championship. Swann then accepted Neville's challenge for the title at the Royal Rumble. The following Raw, Neville attacked Swann before his match with Nese, and Nese joined Neville in the attack. At Roadblock, Cesaro and Sheamus defeated The New Day's Big E and Kofi Kingston to become the new Raw Tag Team Champions, as well as ending New Day's record setting reign. The following night on Raw, Mick Foley congratulated Cesaro and Sheamus and presented them with a new set of championship belts. The New Day also congratulated them, but were interrupted by Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. Big E and Kingston then teamed with Cesaro and Sheamus to defeat Gallows and Anderson and The Shining Stars. The following week, The New Day (Kingston and Xavier Woods) invoked their rematch clause for the championship, but were unsuccessful. Cesaro and Sheamus then began a rivalry with Gallows and Anderson. On the January 2 episode of Raw, Karl Anderson defeated Cesaro. The following week, Sheamus defeated Luke Gallows. On the January 16 episode, Cesaro and Sheamus defended the Raw Tag Team Championship against Gallows and Anderson. After the first referee was accidentally knocked out by Sheamus, another referee came out and called the winning pinfall for Gallows and Anderson. However, the original referee reversed the decision and made it a disqualification win for Gallows and Anderson, thus Cesaro and Sheamus retained the titles. A match between the two teams for the titles with two referees was scheduled for the Royal Rumble pre-show. At TLC, Alexa Bliss defeated Becky Lynch in a tables match to win the SmackDown Women's Championship. Subsequently, Alexa avoided a rematch against Lynch but lost a non-title match against "newcomer" La Luchadora, who made the champion submit to the Dis-arm-her and then unmasked as Lynch. Over the next few weeks, an unknown villainess dressed as La Luchadora began to aid Alexa in matches against Lynch, including her successful title defense in a steel cage match in the main event of the January 17, 2017 episode of SmackDown, where La Luchadora was unmasked as the returning Mickie James. The following week, Mickie James explained that she became forgotten due to the Women's Revolution; Lynch then came out, but was ambushed by Alexa. Nikki Bella and Natalya had entered a heated feud after Carmella had claimed that Natalya had been Nikki's attacker at Survivor Series. After denying the accusations at first, Natalya admitted to the attack on the December 20 episode of SmackDown, revealing pent up jealousy of the Bella Twins, resulting in brawls between the two in the following weeks. One of these brawls, on the January 24 episode, resulted in a match between Natalya and Naomi being canceled. Naomi, left without an opponent, then issued an open challenge. Bliss came out, not to accept the challenge, but to insult Naomi. A six-woman tag team match was then scheduled for the Royal Rumble pre-show, putting Becky, Nikki and Naomi against Alexa, Mickie and Natalya. Aftermath Results Cruiserweight results Raw/Smackdown results Royal Rumble match entrances and eliminations : – Raw : – SmackDown : – NXT : – Unassigned : – Winner A new entrant came out approximately every 120 seconds. Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * Royal Rumble Category:Royal Rumble Category:2017 Pay-Per-View Events Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events